HARVEST MOON type game!!!

[hahahananah]

Hey guys! So I'm looking to make a harvest moon type game! The main feature I want is the bachelor/bachelorette feature. So I have a few questions for you. 1: What other features should be implemented? 2: What setting should the game be in? Modern? Medieval? Classic RPG theme? 3: What should be the overall goal of the game? AND/OR 4: Should the game be constantly continuing? Leveling up and such? And if so, how? ADDITIONAL NOTE: By sending me this information, it is solely out of courtesy and because you love me or harvest moon games :3 AKA you wont be receiving any royalties for your ideas. Also, don't know if it matters but I'm new to RPG maker lol

 

[bgillisp]

I think a modern or futuristic harvest moon type game would be neat. I don't think anyone's made that before.


However, a suggestion here. Harvest Moon games are not easy to implement (the farming system itself is far from trivial to implement in RPGMaker), so I'd suggest warming up on a simple game to learn eventing and such. Maybe make a little game in the same world, that takes place nearby, but has no farming and maybe 2 dungeons, and at the end you get a gift to give to whomever you wish (between 2 people), and at the end whomever gets the most gifts is who you marry?


(ok, that was written off the cuff there, so sorry if it sounds lame. If you like the idea go ahead and run with it).

 

[hahahananah]

Thank you! Any type of suggestion is appreciated. Yeah, I dont want to make it super similar, I just like the idea of being able to get married and stuff, so I think I would try to do it in a modern form. What do you think about the idea of getting jobs too?


Also yes I am a noob, I don't know exactly what features I would need to learn for this game, so theres a problem

 

[bgillisp]

Don't feel bad, I had no idea what I needed when I started my game, and it was not a Harvest moon game. My advice is start by making something, but be prepared to junk it within a week or two once you learn what you are doing.


And don't do what I did, which was enter your learning project into the IGMC. I pity the poor judges who had to navigate my 90 x 90 tile house.

 

[grem333]

Thank you! Any type of suggestion is appreciated. Yeah, I dont want to make it super similar, I just like the idea of being able to get married and stuff, so I think I would try to do it in a modern form. What do you think about the idea of getting jobs too?


Also yes I am a noob, I don't know exactly what features I would need to learn for this game, so theres a problem

Learning how to use variables are really important for setting up a good relationship system, among other things.


Example: When you first meet Bob, you set the variable "Bob Friendship" to 0. Every time you talk to him or fulfill a request, you add +1 to that variable. To make it so you only can increase friendship once per day, after you first talk to him and get the friendship point, turn a switch on called "Talked to Bob". And then, every time you go to bed, turn that switch back off.


You can do a lot of things with variables and switches. You can make random conversations by first setting a new variable called "Random" to a number between 1 and 5. Then, have a set of nested conditional branches that check for the condition if variable "Random" is equal to 1 (and you can check the "else" box. If it's equal to 1, Bob says one thing. Else, if the variable "Random" is equal to 2, he says another thing, etc.


There are a lot of nice "Day/Night" and "Time System" plug-ins for MV that can be useful, but you can make up your own simply using common events if you wanted to.


Some advice from one person who's trying to make a Harvest Moon-type game to another:


1) Having a farming system similar to harvest moon is really really hard to do without a plug-in, at least for me. I am having difficulties with that right now.


2) Also really hard, or maybe even impossible without a plug-in is having a good working villager schedule system. There are work-arounds, though.


3) Luckily, crafting systems are easy to do with plug-ins. And a mining, lumbering, and fishing system can be set up with events once you understand variables and conditional branches.


Anyways, sorry if that was too basic for you.I wrote all that assuming you've never used any RPG Maker engine before. Good luck with your game!

 

[hahahananah]

No thank you!! I really do appreciate it. Where is the best place to learn how all of that works? Or is it easier to learn by doing?


Thanks again guys!

 

[grem333]

There are a couple really good tutorials I don't have the link of that teach variables and switches and other things for RPG Maker VX Ace that pretty much can apply for MV as well. You can check out Andar's Starting Point for New Users (you can find a link to it in Shaz's signature).


Personally, I find it easiest to download tutorial demo games to play through and that also allow you to access the game file so you can look at how all the events were set up. There are probably some demo games in the tutorial thread. Also, you can learn by doing. Start off simple to see if a concept works and to familiarize yourself with the system, and then expand from there.

 

[hahahananah]

Thanks again!!

 

[bgillisp]

No thank you!! I really do appreciate it. Where is the best place to learn how all of that works? Or is it easier to learn by doing?


Thanks again guys!

Depends on your background coming into this program. If you don't know how if/else logic works, and what a variable is and how to use them from other sources or programming languages, you might want to look up Andar's tutorials, they have one that you can work through to learn things like that.


If you already know how if/else works, as well as variable logic, you might be able to learn by doing then. That's what I did, as I already knew this stuff from my CS days, but be prepared to scrap your learn by doing project a few days into it.

 

[noctiluca]

I'm making one too. It's actually picking up/rebooting a project I was working on in 2009, I showed some of my friends and they convinced me to not give up on it.


im going to warn you straight-up... If you want to make a GOOD farming/life sim, it's an incredible amount of work to undertake. There's a reason why I quit when I did in 2009, even though I was generally competent w/RM back then, it was still too complex for me. Simulation games have so many values processed under the hood. Even if you only use free resources made by other people, you have to think very creatively and pick scripts/plugins very judiciously in order to get it to function. Often times using them in ways they weren't expected to be used. Also be ready to encounter lots of bugs to fix.


for an example of what I'm talking about, this is basically what it looks like in the event editor to plant seeds: Ex


If you want it to feel/act anything remotely like a Bokumono/HM game most of the eventing is going to look like that. If you just want to make a social sim like Animal Crossing (but presumably with humans and marriage) it may be more straightforward. Become as familiar as you can with variables and conditional branches.


as far as features go, you aren't ever going to please everyone so don't worry about that too much-- I say make a game with features you always wanted to see. Chances are other people will too.


also if you get frustrated with some feature you're having trouble adding, be patient! Sometimes you need to simply set it aside and work on something else, and suddenly an idea for a workaround will spring into your mind, and you try it-- and it works! (Not always, but don't feel too down if you have to try again, and again, and again... I think that's just part of the process of making a sim/non-RPGin RM...)

 

[hahahananah]

Wow, you guys are the best! Very, very helpful.

I'm making one too. It's actually picking up/rebooting a project I was working on in 2009, I showed some of my friends and they convinced me to not give up on it.


im going to warn you straight-up... If you want to make a GOOD farming/life sim, it's an incredible amount of work to undertake. There's a reason why I quit when I did in 2009, even though I was generally competent w/RM back then, it was still too complex for me. Simulation games have so many values processed under the hood. Even if you only use free resources made by other people, you have to think very creatively and pick scripts/plugins very judiciously in order to get it to function. Often times using them in ways they weren't expected to be used. Also be ready to encounter lots of bugs to fix.


for an example of what I'm talking about, this is basically what it looks like in the event editor to plant seeds: Ex


If you want it to feel/act anything remotely like a Bokumono/HM game most of the eventing is going to look like that. If you just want to make a social sim like Animal Crossing (but presumably with humans and marriage) it may be more straightforward. Become as familiar as you can with variables and conditional branches.


as far as features go, you aren't ever going to please everyone so don't worry about that too much-- I say make a game with features you always wanted to see. Chances are other people will too.


also if you get frustrated with some feature you're having trouble adding, be patient! Sometimes you need to simply set it aside and work on something else, and suddenly an idea for a workaround will spring into your mind, and you try it-- and it works! (Not always, but don't feel too down if you have to try again, and again, and again... I think that's just part of the process of making a sim/non-RPGin RM...)

Thank you Noctiluca so much. I think if I set it in modern times I wont have the farming system, but I am thinking about having something like where you can get a job, so that will make up for that but I'm not sure how that will work. I'm sure I can figure it out somehow.


I'm so looking forward to your game!! I love harvest moon soooo much lol.


Thanks again! This is awesome.